‘Perpetual Motion’ Performances To Showcase Choreography By Dance Students And Faculty
Works choreographed by Dance Science students and faculty will be featured during the 17th annual “Perpetual Motion” showcase Feb. 20-22.
The shows are at 7 p.m., with an additional show Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. at the Black Box Theater, Room 207, in the Physical Education Activity Program Building. Tickets are $12 for general admission and $8 for students, available at the MSC Box Office website.
Seven works were choreographed by faculty members John Cartwright, Abby Chin, Jessica Boone and Diane Bedford, and two new professors: Everett Perry-Johnson and Carolyn Rabbers. Boone’s work titled “Exhalation” will also feature music performances by Dr. Lynn Vartan and Virginia Figueiredo, professors in the Music Performance program.
Cartwright, lecturer and contributing choreographer for “Perpetual Motion,” said over 40 students are performing works in jazz, classical ballet, contemporary ballet, modern, postmodern improvisation and contemporary modern.
Bailey Zettler and Sommer Edgerson will each perform contemporary dance works that will also be presented at the American College Dance Association’s South-Central Conference in March at Texas State University.
The student work expands beyond the performance and into stage management, lighting, sound and front-of-house operations with direction from Jam Martinez, the college’s production manager.
Cartwright choreographed a contemporary post-modern improvisation piece that highlights the idea of performative rigor. The dancers will illustrate this by using kazoos, allowing the buzzing sound to amplify breath and highlight the work of full body performance, which includes producing noise and sound, he said.
“In order to legitimize rigor in the eyes of the audience, we talked about how there is a pressure to feel stressed out when you perform,” he said. “So, I have been working around images of that idea of pressuring people to do things for you, or that feeling of being pressured to do things that you don’t necessarily want to do.”
Cartwright said he hopes guests experience an appreciation for the variety of works, and encouraged them to consider the show’s impact on students’ learning and the growth of the program.
“We are working hard, and I want the audience to see that hard work we put in,” he said. “The experience that our students are getting out of this is extremely important, and I want those efforts for our students to continue being supported.”
Top photo: Kiko Young, Dylan Wagnon and Carisa Mathiason practice for a performance that include kazoos in “Perpetual Motion.” Photo by Justin Kling.
